Seattle

Thursday

We got to Seattle about noon, checked in our hotel. As soon as we found out how much a taxi would be to town, we got the public transportation schedule, and off we went. Our first goal was to go up in the space needle, so we got off the bus and walked to this fantastic downtown shopping mall. Right outside Macy’s there was a monorail that took us to the space needle.

We weren’t expecting there to be an amusement park at the base, but there was a cute one for kids maybe 10 and under. When we got to the needle, we found out that it cost $13.00 each to go to the top, but that if we ate lunch at the Sky City revolving restaurant atop the Space Needle, the $13.00 was deducted from the cost of our lunch. So, since we had missed lunch we decided to do lunch atop the Space Needle. It was an excellent lunch, but there was a minimum charge of $30.00 per person including the $13.00 to go to the top. Our lunch choices came to exactly $60.00, plus taxes.

The Sky City restaurant was really neat. It was constantly revolving and took 47 minutes to make one revolution. We were there long enough to see every part of the city at least twice, but that included almost an hour of sightseeing.

Next came a great experience. Ricky’s favorite author was having a book signing that evening at 7:00 on the other side of the city, and it was already 4:30. Looking at the map, we were sure we could walk this course. During the hike we met and spoke to a lot of people, and every one of them were extremely nice and helpful. Seattle has a very eclectic population that melds together in a very friendly way. Even the “grunge” crowd was helpful and friendly, and loved us making comments about their clothing choices. My favorite was a young boy who had on jeans that would have fit Andre the Giant. They had at least 100 zippers sewn on every which way. When I commented, he was very proud and said he had sewn them all on himself.

So, three miles later we made it to the book signing, and low and behold, we see all manner of costume, the strangest being males and females, both in very ornate wedding dresses. Everyone in line was at least half or less of our ages, and looked at us strangely. We finally told one of the girls we were there for our son, and word got around. Then they were all became our best friends. We met the author, got the book signed and started the maze back to the bus stop to return to the hotel. By the time we got back it was 2 am our time, 11 pm in Seattle.

Friday

After a quick breakfast, off we went to the Pike Street Market. I could have spent days there. There were numerous markets for fresh fish, vegetables, flowers, jewelry, knick-knacks of all kinds & several restaurants. There were several musicians doing their thing along with a Starbucks, of course. We had a delicious lunch at one of the restaurants overlooking the water. If I lived in Seattle, I would have fresh flowers everyday. They were gorgeous. Again all of the different cultures were so interesting.

The weather was beautiful both days. Every one we spoke with warned us of the dark clouds, but we never saw rain.

Saturday

Off to the Pier to depart on our cruise on the Golden Princess. We arrived at 1:00 pm, were aboard the boat by 3:00 and off we went at 4:00. The boat is beautiful (Golden!!!!). There was food available at all times, morning, noon & night. But … and this was a big one … only CNN for news. Rich is wearing out his camera and binoculars and pretty much butting in, hoping he can take over the helm. Our cabin person already calls us by name, and we have a great waiter and bus boy in the dining room. Lane … Our waiter is single and from Mexico City. He has lots of brothers and sisters, but he is the only single one. He’s 35, tall, dark, and handsome, plus has traveled the world, but would love to visit Israel. Should I bring him home? By Tuesday we should know everything about him.

ALASKA

Sunday

We are at sea all day. Rich has already beaten everyone so far in ping pong. They were mostly Korean, and Rich said they all held their paddles funny, so he had to show them up. They were all scurrying to play him.

For the first time in all of our cruising, the seas are rough. A lot of people are sea sick, but it hasn’t affected us, except I’m getting sore leg muscles trying to keep balance. It’s not so bad things fall off the tables or anything like that, just more swaying than we’ve experienced on past cruises.

It was formal night, and I had a brain spasm and wore the wrong shoes (I realized this only after looking at pictures). Fortunately, I think I was the only who noticed.

I tried some unfamiliar food for dinner (some kind of strange quiche, and red pepper lobster bisque) and really liked them both. We talked to our waiter and busboy more … they are really fun, especially with the language differences. One was from Bolivia & the other from Mexico City.

Monday

We lost another hour during the night, so there is now four hours difference from eastern daylight time. WE ARE HERE….ALASKA!!!!!! Rich is like a kid waiting for the boat to clear customs. I hope I can keep him on board until our tour starts … more after the tour of Juneau.

JUNEAU

Well folks, I found my niche in life. I’m going to leave my life behind, bring my loves (Rich, the kids, the dogs, and whoever wants to join) and pan for gold in Alaska. Our tour guide was around 75 (and single, Mom), and lives most of the year on a Solomon Island where he pans the claim his grandfather received from the government in 1883. In order to keep claims in a family, someone must “work” the claim on a regular basis at least part of each year. He is the most awesome character I have ever met, and we could have talked to him for hours.

He took us way out behind Juneau proper where we panned for gold in Gold Creek, which is where Joe Juneau first discovered gold in 1880. The first pan he gave us was what they call “guaranteed gold”. It had been pre-sifted down to just sand, ore and flecks by the employees, so we all got some gold from that pan. Then we got to choose a place in the creek for “Crabby Jack” (our guide) to dig a shovel full of rocks, sand and such. I was the only one in the group to find “color” as Crabby Jack calls gold, from panning in the creek. And to top it off, I also found a garnet chip. Crabby Jack told Rich if we ever go panning again to make sure and let me choose the place, as finding “color” is an instinctive sense. Everyone wanted me to choose a place for them, but by now it was time to board the bus & head back to Juneau. My gold panning day came to an end with about $13.00 worth of gold chips, along with the Garnet chip.

Tomorrow is another day, and maybe I’ll get a gold nugget in Skagway.

Tuesday

SKAGWAY

Skagway is a small quaint town of about 600 people year round, so “boat season” is great for most residents. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Skagway was the “gateway to the Klondike”.

Our ship was the first one to cruise Alaska this spring, and it is the first time the Golden Princess has run the Alaskan route. It was the biggest cruise ship ever on this “Inside Passage” route. So, as we were the first outsiders to arrive for the season, everyone was excited to see us, and very friendly.

We saw a different type of gold mining today. It was called “sluicing”. By machine, the old miners ran a conveyer type thing with steel buckets and dumped them into a sluice box (a wood frame with screen like material on the bottom. They ran water through this box and the gold would go through the screen, and then they panned that part. We panned again and did get some “Klondike gold Chips”. Of the two types of finding gold I liked panning straight from the creek better, because I actually found my own color, as Crabby Jack would say.

Our prospectors on this adventure were “Sluice Box Charlie” and “Nugget Ned”. They fit the characters. After weighing our find, we were dropped off in town, and I was enchanted. The buildings were the same as they were in the 1880’s. They are all owned by the town itself, and are leased to the shop keepers. It costs $8,000 a month during tourist season to rent a shop. With there being so few locals, the town recruits outsiders to work during the busy times. Our favorite building is one built in the 1880’s with driftwood. The builder used 8,333 pieces of driftwood he collected himself to build the front part of the building.

We had to be back on the boat as it left at 8:00pm, and my heart was somewhat heavy as this small town truly touched a place I never knew I had. I could have stayed, holding Rich’s hand, and walked up and down the five blocks that consists of Skagway, for hours.

Back on the boat, we had dinner and then went to a comedy show, featuring the “observational comedian”, Cary Long. He was hilarious!

Tomorrow we will see the glaciers in Tracy Arm.

Wednesday

TRACY ARM

We were up early looking for the ice, but the boat had to take a 2 hour detour (not sure why), so we had time to eat breakfast before we entered Tracy Arm waters. The captain recommended we watch the passage from our balconies, as the boat would go into the 26 mile fjord as far as it could, turn around and return the exact course. That way, everyone would see both sides of the fjord.

As we entered the fjord the water became still. There were no waves hitting the side of the boat, and the silence was breathtaking. The 300 to 400 feet cliffs looked as if God had carved the faces Himself. No amount of words can describe the beauty with which this land has been blessed.

The narrator on board was Michael Modzeleski, a renowned naturalist (and son of former Cleveland Browns great, Dick Modzeleski). He told us that since it was cloudy and rainy, we may be able to see the icebergs that had broken from Sawyer’s Glacier, in their true colors. When the sun is shinning brightly, it bleaches the minerals in the Icebergs and they all look pure white, just like we see in most pictures.

Well, sure enough, when we came upon the first iceberg, it was a magical blue, reminding me of a pearlescent opal. Then we saw the next one and the blue was just as magnificent, but not the exact blue. All afternoon we saw icebergs, and they were each white with varying shades of that stunning blue. We couldn’t stop taking pictures, because every foot the boat moved, we saw more of God’s gift to us. We also saw mountain goats, seals, and a bald eagle in her nest, reminding us of life’s resilience. They all survive and thrive in this untouched wonderland. It was spectacular.

Thursday

KETCHIKAN